Kelly Cochran sits next to attorney Michael Scholke Tuesday during her Iron County trial for homicide-open murder and other charges in the October 2014 death of Christopher Regan. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Nikki Younk)

CRYSTAL FALLS — Kelly Cochran now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury convicted her Tuesday of first-degree murder and other charges for the 2014 killing of 53-year-old Christopher Regan of Iron River.

Her official sentencing is set for May 10 in Iron County Trial Court.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for less than three hours before announcing their verdict just after 3:30 p.m. The trial lasted more than two weeks.

Cochran, 34, was brought back into the courtroom from the Iron County Jail with her hands shackled to her waist. She showed little emotion as the jury forewoman read off guilty verdicts on all charges — first-degree murder as an aider and abetter, conspiracy to commit dead bodies-disinterment and mutilation, concealing the death of an individual, larceny in a building and lying to a peace officer-violent crime investigation.

Cochran had admitted to investigators on April 30, 2016 she lured Regan, an Iron River co-worker with whom she was having an affair, to her Caspian home Oct. 14, 2014 so her now-deceased husband, Jason Cochran, could fatally shoot him with a .22 rifle.

She then helped Jason Cochran dismember Regan’s body in the basement with a reciprocating saw and hide the remains off of Pentoga Trail in Crystal Falls Township, according to the April 2016 interview.

While testifying in her own defense, Cochran claimed she lied in that interview because she felt guilty her affair with Regan led her husband to murder him. She maintained Jason Cochran acted alone in the murder and she only assisted him in concealing the death out of fear for her own life.

Investigators, with Cochran’s guidance, found Regan’s skull and eyeglasses May 17, 2016 — about a year and a half after his disappearance — in a wooded area off Pentoga Trail.

In closing arguments Tuesday morning, Iron County Prosecutor Melissa Powell told the jury even though Cochran herself may not have pulled the trigger, Michigan law holds that anyone who aids and abets a criminal is equally responsible for the crime.

“The defendants in this matter were bonded in blood; Chris Regan was bathed in it,” the prosecutor said. “At this time, I’m asking you to wash away the blood and find the defendant guilty on all counts.”

Powell proposed Cochran knew her husband was going to kill Regan because the Cochrans had a murder pact to kill anyone with whom they had extramarital affairs. If she didn’t help Jason Cochran plan and cover up the murder with her college knowledge of forensics, she’d lose her husband as well as Regan, Powell said.

In addition, Powell claimed Cochran was a “scorned woman” who Regan was about to leave behind in his planned move to North Carolina.

Defense attorney Michael Scholke used Cochran’s own admission she was a liar to her advantage in his closing argument.

“Anything she tells you should be looked at with great scrutiny,” Scholke said. “And the only evidence they (the prosecution) have is the word of Ms. Cochran.”

While there’s no question Regan’s skull showed he died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head, Scholke argued there’s no way of telling from the scientific evidence if Jason Cochran committed the murder by himself or if he had help from his wife.